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Saturday, August 8, 2015

King Robert Ebizimor Videos - Ijaw (Nigerian) Music & Dance

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases five videos of Ijaw (Nigerian) music & dance by King Robert Ebizimor. Information about Ijaw culture and information about King Robert Ebizimor are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to King Robert Ebizimor for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to all those who are featured in these videos, the producers of the videos, and the publishers of the videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT IJAW CULTURE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijaw_people
"Ijaw (also known by the subgroups "Ijo" or "Izon") are a collection of peoples indigenous mostly to the forest regions of the Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States within the Niger Delta in Nigeria. Some are resident in Akwa-Ibom, Edo, and Ondo states also in Nigeria. Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps as far west as Sierra Leone and as far east as Gabon along the Western Africa coastline.

The Ijo population is estimated to be over 10million people. They have long lived in locations near many sea trade routes, and they were well connected to other areas by trade as early as the 15th century.[2] The former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is an Ijaw.

Origin
Their settlement in the delta was from the earliest of times. Unfortunately not much is known about this period, only that traditionally it is said that these early ancestors “dropped from the sky” (i.e. to say the Orus were of divine origin), and were devotees of a spiritual culture that made much use of the waters (hence the mermaid and water people legends “Beni-Otu”) They were later to be joined by other ancestors “Kumoni-Orus” from about 400 CE, and 650 CE (AD), who, after settling first in the Nupe and Borgu regions, then the Ile-Ife region, moved to the Benin region via Nupe, and Ife.[4]

In the Benin region they eventually settled and launched expeditions into the Niger Delta, where they came across remote settlements of the Orus, whom they termed “ancient people”. But because they were also ultimately Oru, from the beginning they established communities as one people. The Ijos were known by the two names of Kumoni or Oru up till the time of the 19th century. European visitors noted the name Oru as a distinct term for Ijaw. Likewise the compilers of the Izon/English dictionary noted that “to speak Kumoni is to speak pure Izon language”. The term Ijo (Ijaw) or Izon evolved as the name of the whole ethnic nationality through time, even though as a personal name it derived from one ancestor who was known as Ujo, whom as we have previously mentioned, represents the time when the Ijos evolved as a distinct separate people from their neighbours.[5]"

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INFORMATION ABOUT KING ROBERT EBIZIMOR
From http://urhobotoday.com/?p=13275
LAGOS AUGUST 3RD [2014] (URHOBOTODAY)-Foremost Ijaw music icon, known for playing song promoting the Niger Delta struggle, King Robert Ebizimor dies [in] an auto accident...

Reacting to his death, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide described the death of the music icon as “end of a chapter in the Niger Delta struggle.”...

A music analyst and critic, Ogbonna Amadi, who profiled the late musician during his 60th birthday, said King Robert Ebizimor’s popularity was felt through-out the country and across West Africa, espeically in Ghana.

“In the early 80s, Ebizimor and other gifted stars of Ijaw origin like Professor I. K. Belemu, Master Pereama Freetown, White Eagles, etc brought back highlife nick-named Owigiri in a different style and from dominating the instrumentation with vibrant guitars and exiting rhythms which were missing in the early 60s and 70s.

“As a born philosopher, his songs conjured images. They were like themes which give root to varying development and movement.
“The Agaibiri musical king created issues out of themes and provoked the thought of his audience to the point of inspiring and even mobilising them to action but the greatest weapon is his voice which he projected with happiness and enthusiasm,” Ogbona said."

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FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube with the oldest dated video given first.

Example #1: Alagba Koromo - King Robert Ebizimo

Ebibina Uploaded on Jun 4, 2007

Peace Movement is a m[e]ssage to the Federal Government of Nigeria and, especially to Izon people outside the Izon Kingdom.
In these clip, the elders of the Kingdom were pleading to Izon militant not to go into war with the federal government.

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Example #2: Izon Cultural Beat - King Robert Ebizimo

Ebibina Uploaded on Jun 5, 2007

Peace Movement is a massage to the Federal Government of Nigeria and, especially to Izon people outside the Izon Kingdom.
In these clip, the elders of the Kingdom were pleading to Izon militant not to go into war with the federal government.

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Example #3: Se Teme I - King Robert Ebizimo

Ebibina Uploaded on Sep 1, 2008

The Very Best of King Robert Ebizimo of NigerDelta (Izon/Ijaw) of Nigeria showing how we Se (dance)

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Example #4: Sei teme II - Robert Ebizimor

Izonpeople/Nigerdelta, Uploaded on Feb 24, 2009

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Example #5: Yei Tare Ere - King Robert Ebizimo

Ebibina Uploaded on Apr 16, 2009

The Very, Very, Very Best of King Robert Ebizimo of the Izon/Ijaw Kingdom of Niger Delta, Nigeria

2 comments:

King Robert Ebizimor, the Ijaw music maestro lives forever- it's not every man who comes into the world that lives forever. In fact, it's extremely difficult to come across an Ijaw man who touches peoples heart the way King Robby did

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I'm an African American mother, grandmother, & retired human services administrator. For more than forty years I have shared adapted West African stories with audiences in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
I have four blogspots: pancocojams, zumalayah, cocojams2, and .Civil Rights Songs. Much of the content of these blogs were previously found on my cocojams and jambalayah cultural websites. I curate all of these blogs on a voluntary basis.
Each of these blogs have the primary goal of raising awareness about cultural aspects of African American culture and of other Black cultures throughout the world, particularly in regards to music & dance traditions.
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